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鑽牛角

简钻牛角 · 繁鑽牛角

Mandarin · pinyin zuān niú jiǎo

lit. honing a bull's horn; fig. to waste time on an insoluble or insignificant problem
to bash one's head against a brick wall
a wild goose chase
a blind alley
to split hairs
same as idiom 鑽牛角尖

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Characters in this entry

鑽: Look up this written character
牛: niú · cow, ox, bull; Kangxi radical 93; 9th lunar mansion, determinative star β Capricorni (Dabih)
角: jiǎo · horn; angle, corner; point; Kangxi radical 148; 1st lunar mansion, determinative star Spica
钻: zuān · drill, bore; pierce; diamond

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–2–3 · zuan1 niu2 jiao3

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

鑽牛角 · find source passages ↗ · 钻牛角 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

zyun3 ngau4 gok3

Cantonese word readings for 鑽牛角. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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